Swinging casket handles



Sept. 7, 19 65 a. c. HILLENBRAND 3,204,286

SWINGING GASKET HANDLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 14, 1963 INVENTOR.

p 1965 G. c. HILLENBRAND 3,204,286

SWINGING CASKET HANDLES Filed Jan. 14, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,204,286 SWINGING CASKET HANDLES George Carl Hillenbrand, Batesville, Ind., assignor to Batesville Casket Company, Inc., Batesviile, Ind. Filed Jan. 14, 1963, Ser. No. 251,153 5 Claims. (Cl. 16-412) This invention relates to caskets, and more particularly the invention relates to a casket handle which is pivotally mounted with respect to the casting for outward swinging movement when the casket is to be carried.

The handles on the casket are used during that portion of a burial service when the pallbearers lift the casket during the carrying of it to the place of burial. The casket, with the body in it, may weigh as much as five hundred pounds, and it is therefore important that the handles be so secured to the casket as to permit that weight to be carried without breaking the handles or distorting the casket walls. In securing swinging handles to the casket walls, it has for some time been the practice to bolt a heavy plate or casting to the casket metal walls and to pivotally mount the handles to that plate.

The plate is a slush casting of a suitable metal such as zinc, the casting being made in a mold which will present a has relief surface suitable for application to a casket. The nature of the slush casting process in such as to limit the thickness of the plate to less than inch.

Such a plate does not, of itself, have sufficient strength to withstand the localized stress applied at the pivot axes of the casket handles. Consequently, it has been the practice to cast integrally with the plate, a steel reinforcement in the form of a clip, or lug, to which the handles may be pivotally mounted. The clip, of course, must be concealed, and so the mold is formed in such a manner that cast metal surrounds all portions of the clip which might otherwise be visible after the handle is applied.

The handle has been formed as described above in order to reinforce the casting through the use of the clip as described and to distribute the force on the handles from their pivot axes to the casting and hence over the broad area of the plate and thus to distribute the force to a broad area of the casket wall. In this way, an attempt has been made to avoid such distortion of the casket walls as will result in an unsightly, unsubstantial appearance.

While this method of securing handles to the casket walls has been used for years, it is subject to a number of limitations or disadvantages which include, among other things, the appreciable portion of the cost of manufacturing a casket contributed by the handles and their installation. As a consequence, manufacturers have turned to the use of a bar attached to the casket and held rigidly in spaced relation to the casket wall. From the standpoint of economy, the rigid bar is a desirable substitute, but for the purpose of lifting and carrying the casket, it is not nearly so desirable as the pivotally mounted handles. The bars must not be spaced too far from the casket wall or otherwise they would assume the appearance of unsightly projections. However, when they are spaced close to the casket wall, it is difficult for a big man to insert his hand between the bar and casket wall to grasp the bar firmly enough to lift and carry the casket. For this and other reasons, the swingable handle is much preferred by funeral directors.

It has been an objective of the invention to provide a new mount for a swinging handle which can be manufactured as inexpensively as the rigid bar and which is not subject to the disadvantages and limitations of the prior swinging handles.

The prior swinging handle design requires the follow- 3,2ii4,286 Patented Sept. 7, 1965 ice ing manufacturing steps, many of which can be eliminated or simplified by the present invention:

In the casting of the plate, before the molten metal is introduced in the mold, two bracing clips must be inserted in the mold and held in place by two core pins which ultimately form the holes in the casting by which the pivot pins are introduced to secure the handles to the plate. From time to time, the core pins must be lubricated. The clips must be manufactured very precisely, first so that they seat properly in the mold, second, so that the core pins can be passed through the apertures in the clips and third, so that the molten metal does not flow into pockets created by an undersize clip and block the further assembly of the handles to the clips.

After the casting is formed, the core pins must be withdrawn, and the casting is removed by grasping it with a suitable tool and pounding against the mold in which it is lodged.

Thereafter, projecting arms secured to handle bars are placed in position between the upstanding ears of the clip. An operator drives a pivot pin through the holes formed in the casting, the holes in the clip and the hole in the arms of the handles, thereby pivotally securing the handles to the plate. Mounting bolts are loosely threaded through holes in the clip and casting.

In mounting the assembly on the casket, the loosely held bolts must be threaded through the bolt holes in the casket walls. Because the bolts are loose, time is wasted in aligning the bolts with the holes so that they can pass through. After the assembly has been applied to the casket wall, the bolts must be physically held in order to apply the nuts to them in view of the fact that the loosely held bolts will tend to rotate while the nuts are being applied. Further, in drawing the nuts tightly to the casket wall, the metal is sometimes deformed by forcing it into the cavity formed at the reverse side of a casting. This oil canning of the casket wall results in a distortion which is all too visible when it reflects light.

It has been an objective of the present invention to provide a new mounting for a swinging casket handle, the new mounting resulting in an improvement from the structural or load supporting standpoint and further admitting of the use of automation as well as other more efiicient production techniques by which the cost of the handle is made competitive with the more inexpensive rigidly mounted bar. In accordance with the invention, the mounting clip is not integrally cast with the mounting plate, but rather is applied later as a separate element. Further, through the invention the function of the cast mounting plate has been converted from one of support for the force applied during the lifting and carrying of the casket to one of a washer for the mounting clips and a decorative mask for the mounting clips. Stated another way, whereas the decorative plate had formerly secured the handle to the casket, in accordance with the invention, the plates primary function is decorative and is secured to the casket by the handle.

A number of advantages result from the invention. Since there is no need to insert reinforcing clips during the molding process and consequently no need to use core pins which result in unsightly holes in the castings, the molding operation is greatly simplified and in fact can be performed in an automated machine. With automation, one man can perform the molding operations formerly required by four.

Instead of requiring a hand-driven gudgeon pin to mount the handle arms to the casting and embedded clip, the clip can be applied to the arm with an automatic riveting machine. Further, the mounting bolts can be welded to the clips prior to the riveting of the arms. This is an operation which could not conveniently be performed when the clips are cast into the plate. The welding of the mounting bolts to the clips speeds the application of the fastening nuts and helps to hold the bolts in position when the assembly is applied to the casket wall, whereby the bolts are more easily threaded into the holes in the casket wall.

Thus, in both the manufacturing of the handle subassembly and in the application of the subassembly to the casket wall, all operations are performed much more efiiciently with a reduction in the manpower required to less than half of that formerly required.

Structurally, the invention constitutes an improvement over the prior practice. By eliminating the casting as a structural force resisting member, the casting walls may be greatly reduced in thickness, thereby saving twenty to thirty percent in metal. Further, there is no possibility of cracks developing in the casting when force is applied, for the force is not transmitted to the thin casting walls.

Further, through the present invention, the reverse side of the casting, that is the side applied to the casket Wall, can be precisely dimensioned so as to provide a washer forming portion which will lie substantially flush against the casket wall when the assembly is applied to the casket wall. That washer forming portion receives the integral clip and bolt on one side and a sealing washer on the other side and, when drawn up against the casket wall, does not create any oil canning or distortion of the casket walls.

These and other objectives of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a handle mounted in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a disassembled perspective view showing the arm and clip assembly of the handle, and

FIG. 4 is a disassembled perspective view illustrating the mounting of the handle to the casket wall.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the handle is shown mounted on a metallic casket wall 11. The handle comprises a bar 12 which is fixed to a pair of arms 13, the arms terminating in ends 14 which are pivotally secured to the casket wall. A plate 15 has a decorative front surface 16 moulded in has relief and is clamped to the casket wall to provide a decoration for the wall and to conceal the pivotal mounting of the handles.

As best shown in FIG. 2, the plate 15 is formed as a slush casting. Slush casting is a process employing a concave mold into which an excess of molten metal is poured. After a brief chilling period, the excess molten metal is poured from the mold leaving a casting having a wall thickness of no more than approximately inch, the casting having a finished front surface and an unfinished rear surface. In slush casting, it is not practical to cast a thickness greater than inch because the metal tends to form undesired voids resulting in a structurally imperfect casting. As a consequence of the limitation on the thickness of the casting walls, the casting cannot take a substantial bending stress, and, in constructions made according to prior practices wherein the casting is a load bearing member, there is a tendency from time to time to develop cracks in the surface of the casting when the casting is stressed by the carrying of a load.

The casting 16 has a generally concave, rearwardly directed surface 17 providing a peripheral edge 18 which bears against the casket wall. The casting has, in its front surface, a recess 20 defined by a rear wall 21, an upper sidewall 22, a lower side wall 23 and lateral side walls 24. The rear wall 21 of the recess has a rearwardly facing surface 25 which lies in substantially the same plane as the peripheral edge 18 of the plate so that, when the casting is placed against the casket wall 11, the rear surface is brought substantially flush with the surface of the casket wall which it faces. In practice, the surface 26 is set inwardly approximately inch to accommodate a resilient plastic washer 27 whose central hole is aligned with a bolt hole 28 in rear wall 21 of the casting.

The ends 14 of arms 13 are set into the recesses and each is held there by generally U-shaped mounting clips 3th. The U-shaped clip has a bight portion 31 in which a bolt hole 32 is formed and through which a bolt 33 having a head 34 passes. The head 34 of the bolt is preferably welded to the bight portion 31 of the clip. The clip 39 is also provided with mounting ears 35 having holes 36 by which they may be riveted to the ends 14 of the arms 13. A hearing flange 37 is bent from the bight portion 31 through an angle slightly greater than ninety degrees to lie against edges 38 of the ears 35.

Each arm 13 has at its end 14 a transverse bore 40 through which a rivet 41 passes to secure the mounting clip 30 to the end of the arm. When the mounting clip is riveted in position, a bearing surface 42 on the end 14 of the arm engages the bearing flange 37 on the clip 30 to form a load bearing stop when the handle is swung away from the casket wall to a lifting position.

The other end 43 of the arm has a large, transverse hole 44 matching the contour of the handle bar 12. The handle bar 12 is slid into the hole 44 and secured in proper position there by a screw 45 passing through a hole 46 in the end 43 of the arm. A steel reinforcing plate 47 is cast integrally into the arm to withstand the major portion of the load on the arm when the cast is lifted.

After the arms are in position, the ends of the bar 12 are covered with decorative caps 48.

The generally U-shaped combination of arms and handle bar is attached to the casket wall by the bolts 33 which pass through bolt holes 49 in the casket wall. A steel nut 50 having a resilient Washer 51 on one end is threaded on each bolt 33 and, when tightened against the inside of the casket wall, spreads the washer 51 around the bolt hole 34 to seal the bolt hole. Similarly, the plastic washer 27 on the outside surface of the casket wall provides an additional seal for the bolt hole.

The lateral side walls 24 which form the recess 20 have forwardly projecting ears 53 which overlie and conceal the ears 35 on the mounting clip 30. The ends 14 of the arms are correspondingly recessed, as at 54, to provide a cooperating surface into which each ear 53 is disposed when the handle is mounted on the casket wall. Thus, each functional load bearing clip is fully concealed by the recess side walls and the ears 53 when the handles are mounted on the casket walls.

The manufacturing and assembling process is generally as follows:

Two bolt holes 49 are formed in the casket wall at each position where casket handles are to be mounted. The plates 15 are cast, without any reinforcing metal, in an automatic machine which automatically pours off the excess molten metal after a precise interval of time and ejects the casting. The casting walls are of a minimal thickness, since they have no load bearing function. Consequently, less metal is required in them than was required in previous constructions.

Previously formed clips 30 having the bolts 33 welded to their bight portions are riveted to the handle arms in an automatic riveting machine. In the prior con structions wherein a reinforcing clip was cast integrally with the plate 15, it was necessary to join the handle arms to the clip and casting by driving a gudgeon pin with a hammer through the holes in the casting, the reinforcing clip and the arms, and there was no way of concealing the ends of the gudgeon pin.

The arms, with their clips 30 and bolts 33 attached, are laid in a jig which spaces them a precise distance apart on centers corresponding to the centers of the pair of bolt holes 49 in the casket wall. The bar 12 is inserted in the holes 44, the caps 48 applied and multiple screw-driving apparatus drives the screws 45 into the arms and caps 48 to secure them to the bar 12.

The ends 14 of the arms, with their clips 30, are inserted into the recesses 20 of the plate 15, the bolts 33 projecting through the holes 28 in the rear wall 21 of the recess, and the resilient washers 27 are applied. The resilient washers have holes of approximately the same diameter as the threads of the bolt 33 so that the washers are frictionally held on the bolt 33, thereby temporarily maintaining the handle arms secured to the plate 15.

In this condition, the assembly is applied to the casket walls. The bolts are held firmly in the casting by the washers 27 and are held against rotation by the welding of the bolt heads to the clips 30. The assembler, therefore, can easily apply the subassembly of plate and handle to the casket wall and thread the nuts 50 tightly on the bolts without having to handle the bolts, either to thread them into the holes 49 or to hold them against rotation when pneumatic wrenches are applied to tighten the nuts 50.

Since the rear surface 26 of the recess is in substantially the same plane as the peripheral edges 18 of the plate, when the nuts 50 are drawn up tightly on the bolts 33, there is no bending of the sheet metal of the casket wall into the concavity of the plate. Consequently, there is no oil canning or distortion of the casket wall which would result in unsightly light reflections tending to indicate that the casket was something less than substantial.

The advantages arising from the invention now become apparent. The structural characteristics of the casket handles is improved by eliminating the plate 15 as a load bearing member. The possibility of plates cracking when stress is applied to the handle, is eliminated. The structure admits of the use of improved manufacturing techniques through which a saving of labor and material is effected. As indicated, the casting can be made of a reduced thickness and in an automatic machine. The number of men required in the manufacturing of castings is therefore substantially reduced. The use of the automatic riveting machine as contrasted to the handdriven gudgeon pin reduces the number of persons required in the manufacture of the subassembly components. The firmly held bolts greatly reduce the time required to assemble the casket handles and plate to the casket wall and permit the same number of caskets to be manufactured using less than half the personnel to assemble the handles to the casket walls than had previously been required. These savings enable a casket to be manufactured with the desired swinging handles at no greater cost than the casket having the inferior rigidly mounted handles.

1 claim:

1. A casket handle mount for a casket wall having at least one bolt hole in it, said handle mount comprisa cast plate having a decorative front surface,

at least one recess in said front surface having a rear wall bounded by side walls the rearward surface of said rear wall generally flush with said casket wall when said cast plate is installed,

said rear wall having a bolt hole passing therethrough,

a mounting clip,

a handle arm pivotally secured to said clip,

a bolt passing through a hole in said clip,

said clip being disposed in said recess with said bolt passing through the bolt holes in said rear wall and said casket wall, and

a nut on said bolt tightly securing said clip to said casket wall and clamping said plate between said clip and casket wall.

2. A casket handle mount for a casket wall having at least one bolt hole in it, said handle mount comprisa cast plate having a decorative front surface and a concave rear surface having edge portions engage able with a casket wall,

at least one recess in said front surface having a rear wall bounded by side walls, the rearward surface of said rear wall lying in substantially the same plane as said edge portions,

said rear wall having a bolt hole passing therethrough,

a mounting clip,

a handle arm pivotally secured to said clip,

a bolt mounted on said clip,

said clip being disposed in said recess with said bolt passing through the bolt holes in said rear wall and said casket wall, and

a nut on said bolt tightly securing said clip to said casket wall and clamping said plate between said clip and casket wall.

3. A casket handle mount for a casket wall having at least one bolt hole in it, said handle mount comprisa cast plate having a decorative front surface,

at least one recess in said front surface having a rear wall bounded by side walls,

said rear wall having a bolt hole passing therethrough,

a U-shaped mounting clip providing two ears with apertures therein and a hole in the bight portion of said clip,

a handle arm pivotally secured to the ears of said clip,

a bolt passing through the hole in said clip,

said clip being disposed in said recess with said bolt passing through the bolt holes in said rear wall and said casket wall, the side walls of said casting recess having a pair of ears overlying and hiding from view the ears on said clip, and

a nut on said bolt tightly securing said clip to said casket wall and clamping said plate between said clip and casket wall.

4. A casket handle mount for a casket wall having at least one bolt hole in it, said handle mount comprisa cast plate having a decorative front surface,

at least one recess in said front surface having a rear wall bounded by side walls,

said rear wall having a bolt hole passing therethrough,

a mounting clip,

a handle arm pivotally secured to said clip,

a bolt having its head welded to said clip,

said clip being disposed in said recess with said bolt passing through the bolt holes in said rear wall and said casket wall,

a resilient washer disposed between said rear wall and said casket wall, and

a nut on said bolt tightly securing said clip to said casket wall and clamping said plate between said clip and casket wall.

5. A casket comprising,

a shell having side walls,

said side walls having a plurality of bolt holes, a

plurality of cast plates, said cast plates each having a decorative front surface,

at least one recess in said front surface having a rear wall bounded by side walls,

the rearward surface of each rear wall generally flush with a side wall of said shell, when said cast plate is installed,

7 8 each rear wall having a bolt hole passing therethrough, References Cited by the Examiner a plurality of U-shaped handles providing a pair of UNITED STATES PATENTS parallel arms, 2 1 4 a plurality of mounting clips pivotally mounted on 5 7191 0/9 Banmster 16 112 the end of each arm 5 873,563 12/07Lawrence 16112 a bolt on each clip passing through a bolt hole in 5/10 Hammond 16-112 said rear wall and a bolt hole in said side wall of mill 12/35 Schon et a1 16 112 2,485,833 10/49 Kendall l6112 said shell, and

a nut threaded on each bolt. DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CASKET HANDLE MOUNT FOR A CASKET WALL HAVING AT LEAST ONE BOLT HOLE IN IT, SAID HANDLE MOUNT COMPRISING, A CAST PLATE HAVING A DECORATIVE FRONT SURFACE, AT LEAST ONE RECESS IN SAID FRONT SURFACE HAVING A REAR WALL BOUNDED BY SIDE WALLS THE REARWARD SURFACE OF SAID REAR WALL GENERALLY FLUSH WITH SAID CASKET WALL WHEN SAID CAST PLATE IS INSTALLED, SAID REAR WALL HAVING A BOLT HOLE PASSING THERETHROUGH, A MOUNTING CLIP, A HANDLE ARM PIVOTALLY SECURED TO SAID CLIP, A BOLT PASSING THROUGH A HOLE IN SAID CLIP, 